A weekend in Buffalo, two weeks in Florida, a month of snowbird sun: every Canadian who crosses the border meets the same question at the first notification — what is my phone costing me today? With the big carriers, the honest answer is up to sixteen dollars, every single day. There are cheaper ways, and none of them means giving up your number.
What the big three charge in the US
Rogers charges $16 a day for US roaming under Roam Like Home (rogers.com, checked 24 October 2026). Telus raised its Easy Roam US rate to $16 a day in October 2025 (reported by MobileSyrup, March 2026). Bell’s Roam Better costs $13 a day in the US (WhistleOut, May 2026). All in Canadian dollars, charged on each day you use your phone.
A week in the US at those rates is $91 to $112. Two weeks, up to $224. Carriers cap the charges in a month — Bell, for example, stops charging after 20 days — but even capped, a long stay adds up fast. Check your own plan’s cap.
The carriers’ own passes are better — but not cheap
Each carrier also sells US travel passes. Rogers lists $50 for 7 days and $80 for 30 days; WhistleOut lists a $40 seven-day Easy Roam pass from Telus. If you want to keep everything on one bill and one SIM, a pass is clearly better than paying by the day. Check your own carrier’s current prices before you go; they change often.
A US travel eSIM: a week for less than one roaming day
A travel eSIM adds a second, data-only line to your phone for the trip. Your Canadian SIM stays in the phone, so your number keeps working for texts and calls, while the eSIM carries your data at a fixed price for the whole trip.
Our unlimited US data starts at $6.49 for 7 days and $18.99 for 30 days — prices read live from the shop, with no subscription and no automatic renewal. Each plan gives a daily amount at full speed, then keeps going at the speed printed beside the price.
Living on both sides of the border? One plan covering Canada and the United States starts at $43.49 for 30 days.
Keep your Canadian number — without the daily fee
Here is the detail that matters: on most phones you can keep the Canadian SIM on for calls and texts while mobile data runs on the eSIM. Turn off data roaming on the Canadian line, so it never starts a roaming day for data. Ask your carrier how incoming calls and texts are charged on its pay-per-use rates — and if it supports Wi‑Fi Calling, calls over wifi often cost what they would at home.
Other options worth knowing
Free wifi in hotels, cafés and malls covers a lot, especially for big downloads. A US prepaid SIM from a store is another route for long stays, if you don’t mind a new number. For a short trip with heavy business calls on your Canadian number, the carrier’s pass may simply be the most convenient. The point is to choose, rather than to let a daily charge choose for you.
Before you cross
Install the eSIM at home on wifi; its days start only when it first connects in the US. Switch mobile data to the eSIM and turn off data roaming on your Canadian line. Download offline maps for the drive. Then cross the border without counting days.